Patrick and the People - 12/14/24 Patrick's After School Special w/ XFL Jim

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Patrick sits down and talks with XFL Jim. #xfljim #XFL #USFL #NFL #patrickandthepeople

I'm ready. All right. Welcome to another edition of the after school special. I am here with our new sports guru, XFL Jim, man. And what an exciting time it is, man. You've had some viral videos. You've joined the Patrick and the people team. What the hell is going on, Jim? Things are great. I'd never, I don't think in my entire life I've ever been called a guru before. So I'll tell you, I love it. All right, good, good. Well, that's what we consider you around here, man. So how did you get involved in football, sports, all that? What led to your passion, man? So I'm from Nebraska. So obviously grew up loving college football, loving the Cornhuskers.

And then I'd say sometime in my late teens, early twenties, I started developing a love just for college football in general. And then somewhere around, I'd say late 2017, 2018, the AAF was announced. The Alliance of American Football, for those of you who remember, had some great teams in them, followed some players. And I was like, oh, this spring football thing is super awesome that's gonna be really fun that obviously af didn't work no it did not it was very fun though had some good stuff and then the xfl announces in 2019 that they're going to be uh releasing again relaunching in 2020 i was living in los angeles at the time we had a team i I was like, you know what? I liked the AF. I didn't really do anything with it.

I'm going to go full bore, full steam ahead into the XFL. I, I fell madly in love with just the people that are involved with the XFL and involved in spring football around the world. And I just did a ton more research into it. I went to two games that the LA Wildcats played back in 2020, and I watched every XFL game. I think I have now seen, they only went five weeks because of COVID, but I think I have seen the 2020 version of the XFL.

I have seen every game at least five times. Wow. Wow. Wow. Okay. So the XFL, is Dwayne The Rock Johnson still involved in that? So, yes, in 2023, after when Vince sold it, he sold it to The Rock and his ex, Danny Garcia, in Redbird Capital. They ran it through 2023. And then late 2023, they announced that they're partnering up with the USFL that got brought back in 2022, headed by Moose Johnston. So now...

Daryl Moose Johnston from the Cowboys fame, right? So now they merged into what is called the UFL, the United Football League. So that is headed by Redbird Capital. That is headed by Daryl Johnston and Danny Garcia. The Rock is kind of involved, but if you talk to any actual UFL fan, he's more just like a figurehead. Right, right. Like an executive producer.

Exactly. Yeah. And now they're coming back for round two. This is the second modern-day spring football league that has now entered a second year. We had it with the USFL in 22 and 23. Now we get it with the UFL. So you feel like that this league has legs,

that it's going to make it? Does it have the backers that it needs? Is it going to build the support it needs? This will be a big defining year. 2025 will be a major year. If the numbers kind of stay the same TV-wise, that'll look good. The big thing, the big push that we in the community want to see

is the uh the crowd sizes and the integration with the communities because they're not they're playing in the actual markets but the teams aren't in the actual markets what they do is they all stay in arlington and then fly out to the games oh wow one of the major things that i had uh criticisms of the ufl last year is they didn't do a good enough job of reaching out to the home markets and doing good marketing to get the local people invested. And this will be a big factor if they can kind of do that, get decent crowd sizes. Besides St. Louis, St. Louis was always solid. But if they can get good crowd size and get a nice base of people, that'll be that'll be what i want to see they already announced that they're looking for expansion cities so that's a positive sign

jim why aren't they in the city that they're they're representing why are they not living there it's uh it's a financial thing so in 2020 they did it but it's at this point it's prohibitively prohibitively expensive to kind of have this team over here, this team over here. Instead of just getting housing for all the players in one spot, that's Arlington, you now have to set up housing, practice facilities, everything in, right now, eight different markets rather than just one, and then you're only leasing out the venues. Now, obviously, you're a super fan of the the ufl now oh yes um but for those who don't know what are the differences primarily between the nfl and the ufl now so now especially now that the nfl has adopted the old xfl style kickoff where that's what the xfl used to do it used to kick off where the most of the XFL used to do. It used to kick off where the,

most of the players are at one spot and the kickers at the one, at the other point, the UFL kind of has the old school kickoff where what they did is they just moved everyone back to a sort of decreased touchbacks. That's one of the bigger differences. The other major difference. And I hear that they're trying to maybe change it, but I really don't want them to is there's no PAT kicks. Okay.

So instead of kicking after a touchdown you can either go for one point two point or three point conversion yeah and that was always awesome and then the overtime are a little bit different compared to the nfl where it's it's more similar to college but it's like if college uh if college overtime didn't have the first two overtimes, it was just sudden death. So what they do is they do trading off plays from the two-and-a-half-yard line, and then it's a best-of-five format. Now, let's talk about the players that make up the UFL.

Are these former NFL or are these former collegiate players? What are we looking at here? You see a lot of mix. So you see players who have uh spent a decent amount of time on the um some nfl squads the biggest name of the past couple years was for uh was playing in st louis he was the quarterback aj mccarron yeah remember spent some good time on nfl squads you see other things like that wasn't he alabama is that where he was from yeah okay when that natty in alabama remember was it? Musburger kept talking about his girlfriend.

Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's right. Brent got in trouble for that a little bit, didn't he? Just a little bit. A little skeevy there. But you see players that have spent time on NFL rosters. You see players that maybe coming out of college had a lot of promise,

but either due to injury or something else, didn't get a fair shot in the NFL. You see guys that have spent time in like the arena football circuit which is a super grind uh you see you see guys from all over you see a lot of players from like g5 schools or fcs schools or even like d2 schools okay that don't get like a real good look now compared to other guys do you think these players that they're at the height of their potential or is it possible if it moves forward that this could almost be like a g league for the nfl so there's i have i have a mixed bag opinion on this one because i feel like for it to survive it kind of it almost needs to be partnered up with the nfl in some ways and you've seen it in some

regards the biggest names so far it's really just kickers like jake bates for the lions was formerly on the michigan panthers killed it this last year okay uh the kicker brandon aubrey for the cowboys also was amazing in the usfl that's where he really got his shot he was a soccer player at notre dame before like doing his first professional stint was in the ufl okay sorry the usfl and then you have a cavante turpin also the return guy for the cowint was in the UFL. Oh, okay. Sorry, the USFL. And then you have Kavante Turpin, also the return guy for the Cowboys, was in the USFL. Like you have some names. And I think the more that you get the UFL as a legitimate brand,

you get more guys that'll be able to see it as an opportunity to get into the league. Well, the good news is the Cowboys love to buy cheap. So it sounds like that Jerry's already discovered that he can get some players over there on the low. And that's his favorite MO, I think. You see that? And then there's a couple like D linemen sprinkled here.

The Steelers have like a decent amount of guys. And then some guys on the practice squad for like the Panthers. P.J. Walker was a backup forever, like floating around in the NFL. Josh Johnson, similar guy back in the xfl in 2020 you'll you'll probably see guys get this kind of opportunity and for the long-term success of the ufl it almost needs to have this partnership this handshake agreement with the nfl but personally i don't want to see it as a feeder league i want to see it more of its own

entity that it like it exists as itself so it's a standalone product it is entertaining some sometimes obviously the players aren't as good as like a full nfl roster but i don't think that affects the entertainment factor well i mean if you look at college teams they're not as good as an nfl roster either and everybody loves college ball because you have more variables you have more likelihood of upset you have more likelihood of things to break out and be different than you anticipate in those type of environments am i right exactly that's exactly right and another thing that just following these leagues has made me fall in love with other aspects of college football especially where i've been following like the group of five teams the conference usa

the mac uh sunbelt i follow those leagues so much more than i did when i was starting especially where I've been following like the group of five teams, the conference USA, the Mac Sunbelt. I follow those leagues so much more than I did when I was starting. And the entertainment factor alone is through the roof. So in a UFL, how many teams are there and how many games do they play in a season? There are eight teams right now. So as we stand, there are the Arlington renegades the houston roughnecks the birmingham stallions the michigan panthers the dc defenders the memphis showboats

um i'm already free i with how many leagues like i go through i always forget some yeah uh the st louis battle hawks of course can't forget them and And then the San Antonio Brahmins. Okay. There's eight teams. They play 10 games. So they just go straight 10 weeks. Okay. And then they do their semifinals and then the finals. All right. That's how they're playing it right now.

And when does their season run? Right now, they're shooting for late March. So they start sometime later in the March, like the last week or two of March, and they go until about mid-June. Okay. So they're going to in the March, like the last week or two of March and they go until about mid June. Okay. So they're going to lead up to NFL. Yes. They, they, they want nothing. They don't want to touch NFL. Of course not whatsoever. That would be foolish.

They'd rather put themselves in the gap and gang game fans there. I'm sure. Yep. That way they're only real competition. Obviously when you start the season, you have March madness, but it's not like the first couple of weeks, which are really crazy. Your only real competition is MLB, NHL and NBA. Okay. All right. So let me throw out a couple other questions for you here. So, you know, watching your videos,

watching the one that you recently did for us, look, there's some crazy in there, Jim. Let's be honest. You get a little bit crazy, right? That's fair. I've been told. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How did you develop the persona that you have as XFL Jim?

And what is it about, man? So if you, for those of you who don't know, it's not just, there is XFL Jim who's the main Jim, but there's a whole world of gyms out there it's like the multiverse of gyms yes there is that's the best way to put is there is a multiverse of gyms there i call it the extended gymiverse okay and there's many of us out there and i don't know what clicked 2020 like late 2019 2020 is when i started the channel and started doing the xfl gym stuff i made some videos online before that but then i was just like you know what there's sports

coverage out there and there's weird videos out there and there's there's not a lot of crossover like there's people doing sports betting content there's people doing always seems over legit at times doesn't it it does over produced over real over newsy it definitely does i was like ah i want to just put like a little bit of like a dab of weird here i want to see what i can get with it i wanna i was watching a lot of uh tapes from like small town like uh old 90s public access where anyone can get whatever show they wanted. I was going for that vibe. And then I was watching,

honestly, a lot of adult swim show, like Steve Brule, Tim and Eric awesome show, like a lot like that, where I'm just like, there's this weird factor that some people are drawn to. And I want to see if I can maybe get that,

enter that into, uh, the sports world. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you've accomplished that. I think you've accomplished that very well.

I mean, I think you've accomplished weird, awkward and entertaining in one. Now tell me about, you know, a couple of things that I noted in your first segment for us. Number one was something going on with boobs in there. Tell me about that character. Yeah. That is the tit goblin. The tit goblin. That's right.

Yeah. They are a reoccurring character. They appear probably in like one to two videos a year. Okay. They are what you call them an antagonist the realistic like what happened to develop that character was i got really high one day and looked up on amazon and i saw that you could just buy like a set of fake boobs for drag shows and stuff like that yeah i was like oh sweet what's the highest like size of cup that i could get yeah bottom and then i need something to go

with this so i bought a goblin mask too that's great that's great and i was like okay i got to make a character out of this so then i just developed the tit goblin no and and it's insane it's absolutely insane uh you do some funny blurring and stuff with it uh i know that you have to i tried i i forgot to blur it one time on like a regular youtube video and it got shut down because of that i got dinged for like a couple weeks for that really even though they were fake huh yeah they don't care they don't care that's that's hilarious man uh so and and obviously you know you do this with your your unbuttoned shirt your your mullet flying uh you know how did you you decide

this is the way i want to go i want to look like a guy who's on vacation uh who probably has been drinking all night and just doesn't give a shit that's just the look that's just my look in general like i've always like kind of had a very relaxed go with the flow sort of vibe yeah um my favorite my i mean probably the biggest inspiration, anyone who knows me, I watched a lot of the big Lebowski. Okay. Um, people see it. Yeah, no, that, that, that adds up there. I can see that completely, uh, fitting into that scene. Yeah. That, that makes perfect sense. The mullet and the, the must, the mustache was just spur of the moment i i used to have like this caveman mountain man looking beard yeah that was crazy and eventually i'm just like you know i'm just gonna shave it

i shaved it all completely once and then next time i was like you know i'm just gonna go with a mustache let's just see how it looks as crazy as that sounds somehow some way your ridiculous idea of having some fat mustache a la freddie mercury uh has come back into vote and you can think uh in a big part i guess the movie maverick for that but mustaches are are the thing now you you've come at exactly the right time it definitely works um mullets and mustaches being back definitely helps no it definitely uh puts you right into the groove there, you know. So, you know, tell me about, you know, when you first realized you were having some success as XFL Gym. So, the first time I ever realized that I was doing anything right, I was kind of, I was in sort of like the sports betting sphere a little bit.

And then this website that no longer exists, it was called better than Vegas. They sought me out. I had a contract with them and this is my first time like, Oh, I get like paid to do this. I get like a con I could actually do something here. So you were like handicapping basically. Yeah. I was just doing like, I would do a few bets a day. I was giving out these videos. A little tips.

Yeah, tips here and there. In like my own sort of unique way, I would have a spin on it where I remember one video I got thrown out of a van before I was giving out my picks and stuff like that. That's great, man. It's moments like that. And then when I went to the USFL championship in 2022, and there's a bunch of people that just recognized me

that are part of the spring football community. Like, hey, Jim. I was like, wow. And then I went to the UFL championship this last year, and a bunch of people just walk up to me and ask for pictures. Yeah, that's crazy. That is crazy, man. So what's your highest charting video so far?

Do you know? I'm not super big. I think it is ranking the XFL uniforms, if I remember right, when the 2023 uniforms got announced. Some of those get up like a couple thousand. Oh, yeah. But otherwise, it's like Twitter. It's usually like Twitter comments or Twitter videos

where I'll just be like a lot of people know me from the weird stuff I'll say. Yeah, that's amazing because you do have a high level of engagement. I've noticed that on your social media that the people who love XFL gym, they love XFL gym, baby. You know, I got some diehards. Yeah. And that and that's what you have to have that core group, you know. So what is what's the long-term goal here what what do you you know if you were going to fast forward five years in an ideal situation what would be happening okay ideal

situation is i'm getting to do what i'm covering like the ufl is established the ufl is a legitimate league it is firmly established at this point and i am on a track where i am sort of not partnered up but i'm very close with the league i get to like interview players i get to go to like events you're a legitimate voice in the community yes i'm a legitimate voice in the spring football community i get to go to like i get a press badge for the the cup for the CFL. Um, I get to travel on my own dime, but I have the, the ability to travel to like Japan or wherever, see their football leagues because the Japanese football leagues,

people don't know about, but they've been going on since like the nineties. Really? Yeah. The next league has been going on forever. Wow. I didn't even know folks were big enough over there to compete in football. They get some legit players too,

from the States. They got, um, my favorite one is Boogie Knight from ULM. He plays over there for one of the teams. Now I knew basketball did that. They, they go overseas and play a lot. I didn't know football also had competitive leagues where they did that. Oh yeah. Wow. Europe and Japan. That is amazing. I did that. I've just got educated on that. Uh, so what do you think, uh, the key to you reaching this goal is going to be, what do you, what do you got to do to get there? That's where I'm stuck. That's what I'm trying to, I'm trying to like find, obviously there's luck involved. It's like fun. It's that, um, I think a level you need to,

like, you always need to evaluate where you're at, what's working, what's not. I'm doing that. Actually, currently I'm looking through all the videos, the stuff that I do. I'm evaluating what's working.

What's not, where do I need to put my focus? What do I need to do? Do I need to do more live streams? Do I need to do more podcasts? Do I need to do more just straight up weird videos? Do I need to do more? Just like other content like this?

Do I need to get more on Tik TOK?ok right it's things it's evaluating in that regard but at the very least i'll tell you this i'm never gonna stop just because this is just what i do for fun too yeah like this is just like so fun for me so you know what i've learned so far uh in my career and I've done stand-up comedy and media for 15-20 years now and I've learned that consistency is number one it doesn't matter which format it just needs to consistently be there because you can put it out to every format you just got to keep making sure that content is coming in. Because number one, obviously that builds up to monetization on your social media, right? But number two, it keeps people coming because, and this is what people don't realize sometimes is

if you have, once you hit this break point, you know, let's call it critical mass, right? You've got enough videos out that now it starts to get this traction. And so you start to point, you know, let's call it critical mass, right? You've got enough videos out that now it starts to get this traction. And so you start to get, you know, maybe tick tock is an algorithm in you up, you know, and so you got these new people coming. Well, once they come, if they like it, they're going to go back and watch everything you got. They're going to eat your catalog up, you know, and that's where the magic is, is when you get, you got a catalog, you got these people rolling in and

they're like well let me watch all this shit you know consistency is key with like anything especially in an online space consistency is so key i found two for me and and i can't i can't speak for you because you know it's so different what works for other people successfully. Because look, I've got two sons and one of them's 22, one of them's 25. And I watch, sometimes they show me videos and I watch it and I go, I don't even know what I just watched, man. That's funny. And he's like, yeah, no, that's hilarious. I'm like, okay, I believe you, you know, but I'm like, I don't get it. You know what I mean? But it doesn't matter. What matters is that you're authentic. That's, that's the thing right now that people are after more than anything

in the world. They are begging for authenticity. They're tired of the overproduced overdone, uh, big corporate type shit, you know, and they want real, you know, and they want to have a good time with it. But I'll tell you the one thing I think anybody, if I were going to share anything with anybody in content creation is less is more. And I don't mean less content. I mean, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, cut it down a third more than you probably think you should, you know, and, and, and whittle it down and get it real tight. If you do that, you'll, it's the best, it's hard to do, man. It's hard because you look at these and you start, you know, almost rank judging your, your punch lines and you go, well, do I get rid of that one or not? I really like it,

but, you know, but you have to trim fat and make it punch, you know? And, um, I think that's one of the big keys, uh, to doing it now. Do you, when you do yours, do you pre-script any, or do you go all off the top of your head? How do you do that? When you, when you put something together, I go through notebooks like crazy. Um, when I do like the videos I did for the weekly roundup, um, I write down all the weekly roundup um i write down all the information so i'll write down like the scores from the college football games scores from the

nfl and i just write that down but i don't write down any lines you don't write punch lines you don't write that you just go in and you ad lib it as you yeah i write down like the scenarios i write down what the scene is um but i don't write specific lines and i i've just found that i'm never if i do that especially when i do videos where it's multiple characters talking it's so much better just to be there in the moment and be like okay i'm talking like this dream of conscious play it back yeah and then i could be another character and like be talking back um it's just it's so much better for me to just go off the head and just see what I'm talking about notes wise and just go off memory. I just, I go through the notes and then I, I write down all the scenarios.

I write down all my stats and everything. And then just, you really just have the scores and team. So, you know, you're covering and then you just rip. So with all these different, you know, the multiverse of gems, the extended gemiverse. Do you use only your natural, normal voice for these, or do you apply different voices to some of these different gems? So it depends. So each one, it's the same voice, but it's a different way of talking. Yes, yes. Like XFL Jim has a different way of talking then there's even

the 2020 xfl jim who's a different xfl jim right he has a different way of speaking usfl jim has a different way of speaking cfl jim i give a little bit of like a nice guy sort of canadian sort of tone to him yeah actually jim doesn't speak very much investigator jim has a different way of speaking wizard jim has a different like it's it's all the same. Investigator Jim has a different way of speaking. Wizard Jim has a different, like it's, it's all the same, like sort of voice, but a different cadence. Yeah, no, I get that. And sometimes, you know, cadence is everything, uh, in a voice. Uh, some people don't realize how significant that can be, especially if you're trying to learn to do impersonations or something, the cadence is often the most challenging part to pick up versus the sound the timber you know so that's good that you're able to you know assign those different cadences to it uh do you do

you know what what other characters are you in development of now do you have any you're developing now that you're working on there's always some that are just hanging out in the background um the ones that come out most frequently, I would say, obviously, CFL gym, UFL gym, the ones that are in leagues right now. Investigator gym is always a popular one to like pop out. If there's something that needs dug up, like say for instance, why did Alabama get left out of the college football playoffs? Well, investigator gym is on the case.

Yeah. Chef gym. Cause I have a chef's uniform. So he'll come out every once in a while for like a nice little recipe let him cook exactly um if i'm trying to there might be i'm always open to some other gym there's always another gym that could peek around the corner yeah um and any other league like there's an af1, there's an arena football one. There is an AF one gym. He's only been like seeing sparsely. So there there's some that are just kind of like here and there.

Now in your trials and tribulations here, have you connected with, you mentioned St. Louis earlier. Do you feel more rooted, more connected to people involved in that particular team or are there other teams you feel very connected to by you know people you've known or who've reached out to you so there was a couple guys that used to play japan that i've specifically interviewed i feel very close to those guys i think one of them's no longer in the league he's coaching um there are a couple players that i feel close to just for following

them forever um st louis i feel close to just because a couple of the players i i know uh played for them i was big on san antonio and the brahmas just because i knew some of the players there the stallions i i'm trying him in the works i'm messaging guys that used to play there that i'm trying to like get messages with i feel like i'm just anyone in the works. I'm messaging guys that used to play there that I'm trying to like get messages with. I feel like I'm just anyone in specifically the UFL, but anyone that's involved in like the spring football community, it's a very tight knit group. Everyone kind of knows everybody and players or media personalities or anything like that. I feel a connection with a lot of them.

Yeah. So do you anticipate in saying saying that that maybe in the future you're going to do more player interviews where you can uh bring them in uh whether by zoom or in person or whatever i would love to do more player interviews the only issue is like players in particular i've had such a hit or miss time getting those guys that like sometimes they have agents sometimes they don't their schedules are so up in the air it's tricky i would love more players no it's certainly tricky you know to get uh but you know if you can get a couple the domino falls pretty good uh from there

you know so we need to mount a campaign to get get you interviewing some of these folks man we need to get a hold of them. We need to reach out to them and try to make magic happen. So I'm going to get with my tech guy, Gunnar. He does a lot of help. You know, he's affiliated. He's one of the investors in the big three. And, you know, he does a lot of stuff in the sporting world as far as his interest and everything.

I'm going to have him try to reach out to some of these guys, see if we can somehow loop together and get you with them. If that takes us getting them on and then bringing you on to do it, well, we're going to make it happen, man. We're going to build this up. That'd be amazing. Yeah, I think that'll be a lot of fun, man. I think it'd be cool to watch that explode and grow and see that happen, man.

I agree. Also, like any league. Because even the arena, like if you haven't talked with the guys who have played like arena football or in any of those leagues for a while, those guys are like the grindiest, like down to earth dudes. Cause they're not getting paid a ton to play. And if I'm not mistaken, I, as a matter of fact, I'm almost positive that we have a new arena football team in Arkansas. I don't know where they're in hot Springs. I think, I think you're correct. Yeah. uh we're gonna i think we're about to get out to the coach there uh and talk to him if i can get him we can make magic you know uh because if i can

reach out to him and say listen i've got you know this guy on my team his name is xfl jim and i'd like to set it up for you guys to do an interview it's a weird podcasty fun kind of thing that's different and get them set up for it so they know what to expect kind of you know i kind of see it not the same but similar in a way to um oh what is his name the man it's why is it escaping me so popular he's got real long hair and he interviews people but he's kind of of odd and he has Glenny balls with him. Oh, the Caleb Sunday interview. Yeah. Yeah.

Similar, but not at all, really, but similar in the awkward, weird kind of setup. I see exactly what you're saying. You see what I mean? And so if we, if we kind of explain that to them in that capacity and they get it before they sit down, then it's going to be great because they'll know what they're walking into and they're going to be like, okay, this is going to be one of those things. Yes, it is. We're going to make it one of those things, you know? So let me see if we can do some homework here and make that magic happen, Jim. I think we can. I think that'd be beautiful. Yeah, man. Yeah. And we'll start trying to reach out and grab as many of these folks until we get enough of them in

there, you know, that, that you can just reach out yourself and, or they're calling you, you know, and, uh, I think that'll be great. That'd be perfect. Okay, good. Good. Hell yeah, man. I'm glad to hear it, man. I love collaboration, man. It it's the best i dude getting working with other people i don't do it a ton yeah but it's so fun i always forget how rewarding it is man you know what the problem with working with other people is most people are dicks you know and um so you don't want to work with them because they're dicks you know and uh either they're just out for themselves or uh mainly they just don't give a shit. You know, they'll bilk you, they'll use you, but there's no quid pro quo there, you know.

And this, and I don't know how much you've been able, I know you're very, very busy with all that you do, especially watching all the games and everything, but our show is set up very differently. It's really a show designed to lift people up and and get them exposure you know that's that's our whole premise of the show and uh so this is this to me is what i do it is my wheelhouse you know and uh and i love doing that you know that's great i yeah i caught a couple i caught some of it and yes it's very much everyone's in it together, lifting each other. It's a good time. Yeah, man.

You know, we still do stupid shit. You know, I got body slammed through a table Thursday because, well, my co-host popped off and said, hey, man, you want to bet the Ohio State-Michigan game? And I'm Ohio. And I said, man, come on, man. I don't want to hurt you like that, bro. I mean, you know they're favored by 23, right?

I mean, you're going to get your ass beat. Don't take more embarrassment than you should. And he said, no, no. If you'll take the bet, I got a wrestler that'll body slam you through a table. I said, whatever, bro. If you want your bet, if you want to lose and be humiliated, go ahead. Yeah, fast forward a couple of days later. And there's the Buckeyes getting that ass handled. And I was like, well,

son of a bitch. And I went through a table on Thursday, you know, I know that feel I've jumped through a table once or twice. Yeah. It was like, there's no way Ohio state. Yeah, there is. It's like, you know, when my very, very short lived betting career was when I was in my 20s, and the last bet I ever made, I'll never forget, was a bet on Kansas City Chiefs. They were playing the hapless Indianapolis Colts with the sorry-ass Jim Harbaugh as the quarterback, you know. And he had been a million teams and had some success but never really you know did that great uh and uh man Kansas City was unbeaten at home unbeaten hadn't been beaten

probably in two years at home Lynn Elliott missed five field goals that game missed five field goals five yeah that was a double or nothing bet it cost me a lot and i said i'm done i'm done i'm out i'm done with gambling i'm no good at this i i can't predict a kicker missing five you look in vegas i'm missing another one here so yeah anyway that was my short-lived betting career jim i yeah i've had my i've had my fair share of uh little well you have better information though than I do I I'm an idiot you know I I don't have all the information like you you can make a calculated decision based on facts I just I'm almost the lady who picks the horse because of the name you know all vibes yeah it's all a vibe yeah you know uh that that's exactly what it is, to be honest, it's a vibe. So in the NFL this year,

do you think that Patrick Mahomes is marching to another Superbowl or do you think because they look a little, a little more vulnerable this year, do you think somebody may get past them? Obviously I think this is the weakest chiefs that we've seen so far with Pat Mahomes. That being said, once they get to the playoffs, who knows? them obviously i think this is the weakest chiefs that we've seen so far with pat mahomes that being said once they get to the playoffs who knows they i feel like they're a different beast once it's do or die and something turns on you can never count out pat mahomes but i've been watching them and they just they don't look like the best team like the bills look so

much better the lions look so much better. The lions look so much better. The Packers look better. The Ravens, even the Ravens look, I have a future on the Ravens. I have a 20 to one future on the Ravens. Man.

I sure want to see Jackson get one, man. I like that guy, man. He's a, he's just solid. He's a good dude. You know,

I'd like to see good things for him, but, uh, so it could, do you think a Detroit-Kansas Super Bowl is likely? I think, obviously, the AFC, it really is just between the Bills and the Chiefs. So, it's definitely likely because once it's do or die, the Chiefs seem to have the Bills' number in the postseason. Man, the Bills have been choke artists most of their career.

Jim Kelly, great quarterback, great quarterback. But I think he went four times in five years and couldn't close the deal one time, man. And he was a great quarterback. Oh, yeah. I think it could be very likely that it's Lions, especially if the Lions end up getting a little bit healthier on defense. I think it could very likely be Chiefs, Chiefs, Lions. I think I would maybe favor the Lions in that matchup just slightly.

I might too. As wily as Mahomes is, I think the Lions might edge him out this year. Look, Jared Goff is no slouch. I mean, he's been a good player for a long time. He's just never really had a great team around him. And man, right now he does. The weapons that they have on offense and what they're doing, that offensive line in particular is just so dominant.

Man, it's strong. It's so good. It buys him a lot of time back there, I'll tell you that. You know, because golf's kind of got square wheels. I mean, like Troy Aikman, he's not going to do a lot of running, you know, but when you've got enough time to pitch a tent back there you can check down three four five you know and i guess people are sleeping on but you can't count them out don't count out the steelers no hell no you can't come out the steelers on the steelers no good that defense

is super dangerous they might they might be coming for that division. I don't know. I, you know, I don't know either. I I'm, I'm kind of, uh, I'm a little torn on Russell Wilson. You know, when he came into Seattle, he was great. I mean, obviously he got him one. Uh, they had some good years and I don't know what happened. I don't know if the team fell apart or Russell fell apart. I don't know if Sierra has got just too good a trim. i don't know if the team fell apart if russell fell apart i don't know if sierra has got just too good a trim i don't know what's going on there you know but i know that um i'd love to see him uh be able to pull that off i just i just don't know if he's got it or not if the eye of the tiger is still there you know and it's hard to count him out with the defense though the way they play tomlin now that he a team, that's actually going to do something.

I trust Tomlin as a coach more than almost any other coach that will be in the playoffs. And I could see him doing a little bit of damage. I just, we're all down the chiefs. They don't, they legitimately do not look good for good chunks of games and a good portion of the season.

Yeah. They don't look like the, the, the chiefs that come back in the fourth quarter and pull off three TDs right now. But once the playoffs hit, I just feel like they're going to – I still can't get it out of my head. They're going to flip a switch, and they're just going to roll.

And you've been conditioned to think that because Tom Brady made you think that. For seven Super Bowls, Tom Brady was that guy that – I mean, look, Superbowls, Tom Brady, it was that guy that, uh, I mean, look, he came back, what, 28 down in the fourth quarter. I had turned, I literally turned that damn game off because I was so mad. And you know, that, that cemented his legend status right there coming back, you know, 28 points down. But but i mean he did that for years we saw that happen um and mahomes has been pretty slippery and wily in his time so far uh i just don't know if he's made his run or is he going to approach that brady status in the future i mean he's still pretty young i think he's going

to approach it the things that i've been watching pat Mahomes since his first year at Texas Tech, and the things that I've seen this man do with the football are unworldly. I just feel like he's going to do some magic, and let's be honest, maybe have some help from the powers that be. Right. Whether it's the refs or just fate, because sometimes it's just weird stuff that happens to the Chiefs. It is.

I feel like they're just going to get there. I feel like it'll be a Chiefs-Lions matchup, and I'm praying for the Lions to win. Personally, my favorite matchup would be Lions-Bills. Yeah, that would be an interesting matchup. I don't know if America would love it as much, but I do think that'd be a great matchup for sure. I like both of those teams.

The Bills just choke a lot. That way, at least someone's got to win their first Super Bowl. No, I mean, and that's a fair statement. You know, what I will say about the Chiefs this year, and it's a little consolation, which is that in spite of some more difficult games, particularly for Mahomes, they have found ways to win, whether it's with the defense, with special teams.

I mean, they have come up with big wins when they were within a point or two, you know? And so that does matter some. They are still gritty. They're just not, they haven't seemed as fully strong in all positions as they have in previous years i agree with that yeah they haven't felt fully functional if like one part of their team is really succeeding it looks like the other part like the defense is lights out then the offense is struggling now the offense is doing good the defense is floundering

obviously you love all football but do you have an nfl team that is your favorite team the dolphins the miami dolphins are my team i got dolphins yeah i know i started uh i fell in love with the dolphins playing like mad like early madden 99 or 95 or something like that yeah i picked the dolphins and then the uniforms look sick and then i got stuck with the dolphins yeah now i'm a dolphin fan no that's fine it's tough but it's fine uh two attack of aloha what's i mean they were doing so what's what's going on in miami now it's it's all up in the air right now i mean they still look good two was like obviously the game they had thanksgiving weekend against the packers notwithstanding because the dolphins just can't play in the cold i don't know if they've they've never been able to play in the cold no they're definitely an indoor team yeah so whatever to that but since two has gotten back from injury they've at least been fun to watch i think they're kind of you have

to chuck this year into the dumpster and just hopefully maybe you can play spoiler to somebody maybe you can knock the bills out of the one seat or maybe you can knock like somebody out but you think maybe if they're healthy next year they could be a contender they needed to they need to shore up some things on defense um just like every team they need to like work on offensive line a little bit i think they obviously have weapons they have a great running back room they could um it's old to be seen though because they haven't been able to get over the hump of being able to beat teams with a winning record uh so one thing about the nfl right now that I find a little bit interesting uh but but odd too which is that it's very top heavy with good teams but the bottom half of the NFL sucks it's so bad it

is what's going on why is it so bad right now it feels like this year in particular i don't know exactly why i mean it could be coaching um but it just feels like there's the really good teams and then everyone else right up stinks they just suck yeah and i don't i've never seen it before the nfl i mean the parody level is usually like right there and i this year is an anomaly it's it's weird it might be coaching i can't think of any other thing that it would be, but it's weird. And let me go with one more question before we wrap it up. Over at Ohio State, Ryan Day, he's having a real struggle getting past Michigan. If he doesn't get into the championship game,

is it possible he's done? It's possible. I don't know if they fire him with the crazy buyout that he has on his plate, but he could step away. It's not just Ohio State that probably wants him out. You see him on the sidelines. You see him in these interviews. He looks haggard.

He looks tired. I wouldn't be surprised to maybe see him step away into like an NFL OC role or something like that. I just don't think he gets fired. Buckeye fan is very impatient. If you know them, you know, every year is a win it all year to them. And if you're not in that hunt,

something's wrong in their mindset, you know, but I know urban Meyer said, yeah, no, I'm not coming back. I'm I'm, I'm good.

You know, I just, it's the Michigan thing. And this one in particular, cause this isn't just, you lost to Michigan. Yes. You lost to a not good Michigan team.

And this is the first not good team that they've lost to every other team that they lost to was like a national championship contending team but is it is it fair to say though that it is the biggest rivalry in sports not oh yes athletic in all sports oh 100 to say that records really go out the window for that game it definitely is fair like I remember even like the Brady Hogueogue era the michigan was keeping it even though they weren't winning those games they were keeping it close yeah and those were some straight up bad teams and like you guys people remember we were having a similar conversation about jim harbaugh not too long ago but like in michigan is he really cut out for michigan like

is he gonna stick around and then he just starts rattling off, beating Ohio state, Ohio state, national championship, beating Ohio state. And then everything is like fine and expunged. I think he just needs the one. He just needs the one win.

And then everything is forgiven. And also I feel like we're looking at Ryan day a little bit differently. If things go right in 2022 and they beat Georgia. Right. Because they're probably beating Texas. They're probably beating TCU and winning a natty. Yeah, no. So then he's like, yeah, his record against Michigan is trash, but he has a natty in there.

Yeah. It's just, it's tough. I like Ryan Day personally. He's a good coach. I think he is a good coach. I think that, again, Buckeye fan, their expectations are different than other fans. You know, oddly, the weirdest thing I can tell you is Arkansas fans

are like Buckeye fans and have no basis for it. Zero basis to think that we should compete every year. But every year I hear them go, why can't we compete for that? Because you're in Arkansas, man. Look at every other college team. Where do they play? Not Arkansas.

I'll tell you that. It's a fair point. It is a fair point. I mean, even Texas out recruits us because they have pedigree. Alabama has a pedigree and an ocean. Florida has an ocean. Georgia has an ocean. Mississippi, even Mississippi has an ocean.

Can't spell. Has an ocean. You know, so everybody in the SEC just about is a more attractive place to play. And that's hard to recruit against. Doesn't mean my state's not awesome. It is. It's awesome to retire in. It's awesome for adults. But if you're a young person trying to get your groove on, your swim on, your party on, your drink on, your spring break on, it ain't here. No, no. You can take your beer to the DMV and hang out, you know, with Jed and them. But you ain't going to.

Not like that. You know. Not at the party scene. No, it is definitely not. But I shouldn't badmouth. I love my state. Don't think I don't. I'm just saying I don't understand why our fans think that we should be competing like

that. And it's like, yeah, everybody wants to do that, but not everybody can do that. You think that rice doesn't want to compete for a championship? Of course they do. Are they going to ever?

No, no, probably not. No, I was on rice a little bit this year. I was, I got burned. Yeah.

Yeah. A lot of people probably did. You know, it's like Appalachian state, you know, you a little bit this year. I got burned. Yeah, yeah, a lot of people probably did. You know, it's like Appalachian State. You know, you get excited, you think they're going to do it because they've done it, but it doesn't happen. Well, I need to wrap this up. But damn, man, it's been so good to talk to you. I'm so thankful and grateful that somehow we found one another

and can team up and use our superpowers to combine and try to make this thing magic. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I'm very, I'm tingling with excitement. Well, I, you know, I'm gonna let you tingle on your own, but I appreciate that you are my friend. Hey, listen, Jim, before we go, tell everybody if, look, I, you know, some of my people are going to be like, man, I need more Jim in my life. How do they get it? Where do they go to find more Jim in their life? You can any, any, literally anywhere online at XFL gym. You can find me on YouTube, Twitch, Tik TOK, Twitter, or X, the everything app.

Reddit. I am everywhere. Just look up XFL gym and you will find just yell XFL gym and something's going to show up. That's all you got to do. Damn right. All right, man. Well, Jim, man, I thank you so much for this

and look forward to seeing your segment this coming week, my brother. It's going to be a good one. I bet it will. We'll talk to you then. Sounds good. All right, man.